Conversion is not helped by the news media converting metric to what they perceive the audience wants. I’ve noticed here in France how many Brits use yards and stones for body mass. Only to find out recently the BBC style guide recommends everything be given this way. When you cannot get away from the yards and stones on TV it’s not surprising people are confused. I have to keep asking people who quote their mass in stones to tell me what that might be in kilo’s as I have no correlation for Stones.
On the subject of TV and computer monitor screen sizes, here in France it’s in centimetres in the store and on store displays along with the inches. But if you live here and want to get a battery replaced the apple website gives only inches even in French. Annoying, I did not remember what size my screen size was, had to measure it in centimetres and convert to find what I owned and what it would cost. Mike Payne > On 24 Oct 2016, at 03:26, [email protected] wrote: > > "The Metric System didn't catch on in the United States, except in really > annoying ways. For example, there's a hypothetical pair of fake diamond stud > earrings online. Their diameter is noted in Millimeters." Kristen Petry in > the Naples FL Herald > > It is Petry who is out of touch. I have noticed a decided increase in the > use of metric units on television, not only on news programs but also on the > home-shopping networks. Jewelry is now given in millimeter measurements, as > are men's and women's watches. That has surprised me because computer screen > sizes are still given in inches instead of centimeters. For example, a > common laptop size is given as 15.7 inches. Obviously, that is 40 centimeters > "dumbed down." > > I have confidence that this hodgepodge will all be straightened out sooner > than most people imagine. The impact of international commerce and > technology, which is metric, is strong and will overcome mindless opposition > without a pointless fight, as we had in the 1970s and early 1980s. > > By the way, Jim (Frysinger), I recall the situation with the U.S. Metric > Board exactly as you did. The board was pointless. It operated like the > United Nations: all talk and no action. Better to get the government > hindrance out of the way and let commerce rule the day. Essentially, this is > what the Metric Act stated. Its establishment of metric as the primarily > measurement system was based primarily on commercial needs. --Martin > Morrison, Metric Today > > > _______________________________________________ > USMA mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma _______________________________________________ USMA mailing list [email protected] https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma
